The Supreme Court has ruled that the 2nd amendment applies to individual citizens. But how does that affect you? How does it affect the lives of your and your children? Who is packing a pistol? Should you be carrying one too? What you should know before you step out your front door.

If you are anti-guns, or afraid of guns, or just don't like them and don't want them in your house, then this blog is for you.(It might just change your mind)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The AR-15 and "High Capacity" magazines

With the "War on Guns" now escalating in this country, surely everyone has heard of the AR-15, the so-called military "Assault Rifle" that "should be banned".

If that is how you think of the AR... If that is even in your vocabulary, then you are incorrect and grossly misinformed.

LIE: The "AR" is an assault rifle

The "AR" in AR-15 does not stand for assault rifle. It stands for Armalite rifle. Like any other industry, manufacturers like to name-tag their new products, so it should come as no suprise that when Armalite Incorporated first developed the AR platform in 1958, they put their name on it. "Armalite Rifle model 15" or AR-15.

The AR-15 is neither a military rifle, nor an Assault rifle. The AR-15 is a civilian model or semi-automatic rifle that is designed to be modular - that is, it can more easily be maintained and accessorized by the owner. This simply makes it easier to mount something like a scope or flashlight on the rifle for hunting or self defense.

A military Assault Rifle, so named because the armed forces takes is
into battle, is a select fire weapon. Select fire means that by use if a
selector switch, the weapon can by made to fire fully automatic. (as opposed to a "machine gun" with is always full auto). The AR-15 is not select fire, nor fully automatic. It is semi-automatic, like almost every other modern firearm in the world.
Semi-automatic means that when you pull the trigger to fire a round,
just one bullet is fired, and the gun reloads the chamber, ready to fire
again.

LIE: "Civilians don't need an AR"

Gun-grabbing liberal politicians who will lie and tell you that civilians done need a semi-automatic AR or 30 round magazines. The AR platform is the most popular sporting rifle in
America - more than all other rifles combined, and is used for hunting,
self defense, plinking and general sport shooting. There is a reason for that!http://whyguncontrol.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-need-for-semiautomatic-assault.html

When you go online or to the store buy a computer or TV, you don't buy a 20 year old model do you? You buy a new model, one with the latest in technology and conveniences, and then you customize it with software and wallpaper to meet your needs and style.

For rifles, that is the AR-15. It is a popular platform for that very reason. They can be chambered in a variety of calibers to suit your sporting or hunting needs, and can be modified to suit the specific purpose that you are guying the rifle for.

And yes, Civilians do have legal uses for AR-15s. They are commonly used for hunting,
self defense, plinking and general sport shooting. The government wants to show a posting purpose? There are hundreds of examples of AR-15s used in sporting. However, the requirement for a sporting purpose is unconstitutional. (We'll discuss that in a later article)

If the government had it's way, civilians would be relegated to using nothing but old muzzle-loading black powder muskets like the pilgrims... or maybe not even that.

LIE: "Thse AR-15s should be banned, America would be much safer"

Actually, we tried that one already. In 1984, congress enacted a gun ban - legislation which specifically banned assault rifles. For over ten years, it was illegal to sell firearms with many of the common modern modular conveniences that makes the AR-15 so popular. Ten long years. We gave it the good ol' college try... not some flash in the pan legislation that was quickly overturned. And yet, statistics show that this ban (on one specific type of gun) made absolutely no impact on decreasing violent gun crime.

Why? Because with only a very very few scarce exceptions, AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles are not used in violent crimes. Most gun crime is committed with a handgun.

LIE: "We should ban these high capacity clips that hold over 10 bullets"
First and foremost, it is not called a clip. The mechanism that hold the ammunition for a firearm is called a magazine.

Secondly, so called "high Capacity" magazines are those magazines which extend
below the pistol grip, giving the handgun more ammunition than was
originally intended by the manufacturer.

Thirdly,10 rounds is not "high capacity" for many handguns. The Glock, arguably the most common handgun in America, and widely adopted by police forces, security guards, and civilians alike, can hold as many as 17 rounds in a standard magazine depending on the model.

There are several reasons for legitimately needing more than 10 rounds in your handgun or rifle magazine.

First, there's accuracy. It's a one in million shooter that can hit their target every time. Unlike in the movies and old westerns, people can't pull off those amazing long distance or high accuracy shots. In real life, shooters miss. Even police, who practice regularly, statistically miss their target over 70% of the time in combat situations.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/nyregion/08nypd.htmlNYC police hit ratio
1999 13% accurate
2006 27% accurate
2008 29% accurate
Then there is the Lets take just the self defense situation: Typically, one bullet it not enough to stop an attacker unless you are an shoot for the brain or heart. In fact, many times, even two or three hits is not enough to stop an attacker. That is why the rule of thumb is "pop pop, did you stop? pop pop, did you stop?". Because most of the time, single shots do not cause enough hydrostatic pressure to traumatize the attackers body into an immediate "stop" of their actions. It can often take 5 rounds to stop a badguy from advancing.

So lets say there
are 3 badguys in your house... To stop them, that's 15 rounds of ammo on target - not including
missed shots. (God forbid that you attacker is on PCP or some other chemical substance - it could take 20 or more rounds to stop that one individual from attacking.)

Now, if you are suggesting that "why not shoot for the head or
heart"? Then you have already forgotten about the combat accuracy issue. It is hard enough to hit your attacker, much less make it smaller by aiming for a 3"x3" part of it.

Not to mention that you simply don't understand the law. Shooting
intentionally for the head or heart would be attempted murder. Unlike criminals who would just as soon put you in your grave, in self defense, we do no shoot to kill. We shoot to live. We shoot to stop the attacker. Unfortunately, that often ends in the criminals death. A defender only legally shoots for the heat or heart as a last result.

What about those "extended magazines", shouldn't we ban them to prevent more voilent crime?

Again, the gun-grabbers stated intentions (to reduce crime) wont be serverd by denying teh rest of the law-abiding public the use of extended magazines. Why? Because with only a very very few scarce exceptions, extended high-capacity magazines are not used in violent crimes. This is because high capacity magazines are not as common as standard sizes, and they make the handgun bulky, and therefore more difficult to carry and conceal.

Most gun crime is actually committed with a "standard" sized magazine. And more often than not, one that holds 10 rounds or less. (Every
time you read an article that references a revolver, tell yourself "that hold 6 shots"). (Every
time you read an article that references a .45 GAP (Glock Automatic
Pistol) caliber or a .380 "pocket gun" like the LCP, tell yourself "that
holds less than 10 rounds)Just my opinion, but a criminal, who probably stole the handgun in the first place to commit another crime, probably doesn't go shopping around for a new high capacity magazine for his stolen gun - especially when he may abandon that gun (which police ballistics now has on record) and steal another one for his next crime.

LIE: More guns means more crime. Fewer guns means safety.

Another lie that Gun-grabbing liberal politicians will tell you is that we'd all be safer if only the police had guns. Civilians don't need them for protection. This is a blatant and bold faced lie.

Statistics (the wholly objective numbers provided by independent 3rd party researchers, not the biased liberal numbers) will show you that Crime goes DOWN with more guns in the hands of good guys.

"States with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes. For each additional year that a concealed handgun law is in effect
the murder rate declines by 3 percent, rape by 2 percent, and robberies
by over 2 percent. Concealed handgun laws reduce violent crime for two reasons.
First, they reduce the number of attempted crimes because criminals are
uncertain which potential victims can defend themselves. Second,
victims who have guns are in a much better position to defend
themselves." - John R Lott, brilliant American Economist and Statistician

Even if we enacted the toughest gun control on the planet, violent and deadly crime, including gun crime, would still occur. Even if we made guns magically disappear, violent and deadly crime, would still occur. It's time to stop blaming the gun. Any 5 year old can tell you that it's not the gun's fault, it's the bad guy. We teach our children to take responsibility for their actions, so why would we project the responsibility for violent crime on an inanimate object instead of where it belongs, on the criminal?

More gun laws are not the answer. We should instead be focusing on better enforcement of existing laws, better proactive treatment options for those with mental illness, and more effective penalties such as capital punishment and incarceration without parole for convicted criminals.

True Hoplophobia, or the fear of guns, is a mental illness which, like other true phobias, incapacitates its victims with anxiety, shortness of breath, inability to think clearly and rationally. Obviously, we who are fearful of guns and their destructive power don't have true Hoplophobia. But we are still afraid. Why?

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PRO GUN QUOTES

Gun control:The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound. - L. Neil Smith

Gun control has not worked in D.C. The only people who have guns are criminals. We have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder rates. It's quicker to pull your Smith and Wesson than to dial 911 if you're being robbed. - Lieutenant Lowell Duckett, President Black Police Caucus, Special Assistant to Washington, D.C. Police Chief

They have gun control in Cuba. They have universal health care in Cuba. So why do they want to come here? - Paul Harvey, 1994

Suppose the Second amendment said A well-educated electorate being necessary for self-governance in a free state, the right of the people to keep and read books shall not be infringed. Is there anyone who would suggest that means only registered voters have a right to read? - Robert Levy, Georgetown University Professor

We should not blame a gun itself for any crime or any acts of violence, any more than we can blame a pen for misspelling a word. - Senator Bennett (R-UT), Congressional Record, 5/16/68

When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President of the United States

PRO GUN CONTROL QUOTES

For target shooting, that's okay. Get a license and go to the range. For defense of the home, that's why we have police departments.- James Brady

The most effective means of fighting crime in the United States is to outlaw the possession of any type of firearm by the civilian populace.- Janet Reno

We need to stand firm on behalf of sensible gun control legislation. We have to enact laws that will keep guns out of the hand of children and criminals and mentally unbalanced persons.- Hillary Clinton

Without stronger, sensible gun laws, thousands upon thousands of people will continue to die and be injured needlessly each year.- Brady Campaign

We don't need any additional gun laws, we need to enforce the ones that we've got!- Anonymous

One third of all households with children younger than eighteen have a firearm-Brady Campaign

If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an out-right ban, picking up every one of them... 'Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in,' I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here.-Senator Dianne Feinstein

This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!- Adolph Hitler